Tag: products

Instagram last month introduced a tool that lets users bookmark products they find on the social network. Now, Instagram is working on an insight tool that will show brands which of their items users are saving, said Layla Amjadi, Instagram product manager. In short, bookmarking a product you see on Instagram could mean that one day you’ll start seeing ads for it. Since then, the team has built out features that allow brands to tag their products in photos and videos. In September, Instagram sai

One year after forming a team to develop shopping specific features, Facebook’s Instagram is now beginning to develop analytics tools that brands could eventually use for ad targeting.

Instagram last month introduced a tool that lets users bookmark products they find on the social network. Now, Instagram is working on an insight tool that will show brands which of their items users are saving, said Layla Amjadi, Instagram product manager. Instagram intends to release this feature within the first half of 2019.

“It’s a difficult thing to maintain all of the products that have piqued your interests across these multiple sites,” Amjadi said in a phone call on Thursday. “That’s a problem that businesses told us they personally have and are excited for us to help them solve within Instagram.”

In short, bookmarking a product you see on Instagram could mean that one day you’ll start seeing ads for it. But Facebook hasn’t developed or offered those kinds of ads yet. The analytics tools for brands are the first step.

“We do not currently have ads retargeting based on Saved posts our roadmap,” an Instagram spokeswoman said in a statement.

Amjadi referred to this as a “reconsideration problem,” in which a user expresses interests in an item but does not complete the purchase for numerous reasons, such as the item not being seasonably in style or a user not having the budget at that particular time.

“We can help with the reconsideration at the right time and the right place,” Amjadi said.

Instagram has been experimenting with shopping features since late 2016, but it was a year ago that the company formed a dedicated shopping team, which is lead by Amjadi.

Since then, the team has built out features that allow brands to tag their products in photos and videos. Users can tap those tags for more product details and eventually be redirected to brands’ websites to complete purchases. In September, Instagram said that 90 million of its 1 billion users are now tapping on tagged products on a monthly basis.

“We’re trying to build for people a personalized mall within Instagram,” said Amjadi, comparing shopping on the app to the real-life experience of going window shopping from store to store with a bunch of friends.

Instagram says it is focused on “nailing the consumer experience” of its shopping feature, but it’s certainly signaling that eventually these features will have advertising components to them.

“This is just an additional path right now to give people and businesses an opportunity to come closer together in a way that people want,” Amjadi said.

Amid the explosion of e-commerce, shoppers are turning to online reviews instead of ads to decide what to buy. “The reality is with certain categories of product, buying out fake reviews is actually considered a marketing expense,” said Renee DiResta, director of research for cybersecurity firm New Knowledge. Amazon fans can look to websites like ReviewMeta or FakeSpot for estimates on how trustworthy a product’s reviews are. In some cases, legitimate reviews may be flagged or fake reviews could

Buyer, beware — that last-minute stocking stuffer from Amazon may not have earned its five-star rating legitimately.

Amid the explosion of e-commerce, shoppers are turning to online reviews instead of ads to decide what to buy. Fifty-five percent of people always use online ratings and reviews to inform their purchase decisions, according to a Better Business Bureau and Nielsen survey.

But sometimes those reviews are bought and paid for, just like advertising.

“The reality is with certain categories of product, buying out fake reviews is actually considered a marketing expense,” said Renee DiResta, director of research for cybersecurity firm New Knowledge.

The dominant e-commerce platform remains Amazon, which sells hundreds of millions of products, with more than half of items sold coming from third-party sellers. Shares of the e-commerce giant are up 40 percent this year, and the company’s market valuation briefly reached $1 trillion in September.

Top-rated products show up higher in search results on Amazon’s website and Google, which can mean a significant boost in sales for a seller with a top-rated listing.

Some merchants have turned to paying for positive reviews, especially ahead of major shopping days for Amazon, like Black Friday. And Amazon has struggled to catch them as they grow increasingly sophisticated in evading notice from the website and customers.

DiResta’s research found that the most likely offenders are sellers of generic products from no-name companies.

Amazon fans can look to websites like ReviewMeta or FakeSpot for estimates on how trustworthy a product’s reviews are. Both have their own Google Chrome extensions to make checking reviews even easier.

FakeSpot gives Amazon products a grade based on how trustworthy its reviews appear to an algorithm. The website also grades reviews from TripAdvisor, Yelp and Walmart.

ReviewMeta takes a different approach. Running an Amazon URL through the website generates a report with an overall grade, as well as an adjusted rating that removes reviews it deems “unnatural.”

A low grade from ReviewMeta or FakeSpot does not necessarily mean that the program captured every fake review. In some cases, legitimate reviews may be flagged or fake reviews could be missed.

To combat the problem, Amazon deletes reviews, products and even the accounts of suspect sellers and fake reviewers.

“We take this responsibility very seriously and defend the integrity of reviews by taking aggressive action to prevent abuse and protect customers from dishonest parties who are abusing the reviews system,” Amazon said in a statement to CNBC. “Customers can report suspicious reviews 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and we investigate each claim.”

In some cases, the e-commerce giant has used the legal system to curb the problem. It sued more than 1,000 people who used the freelancing platform Fiverr to find sellers willing to compensate them for reviews. Amazon has also filed suits against several third-party sellers.

DiResta discovered that sellers search for reviewers looking for free products and even extra cash in Facebook groups and Reddit posts. Merchants usually request to see the reviewer’s Amazon profile to make sure it appears legitimate, which usually means a profile picture and experience writing reviews spread out over a long span of time.

To avoid fraud detection, sellers would send DiResta a photo of their product, leaving her to track it down on Amazon. Some might even ask reviewers to leave the item on their wish list for a day or two to remain under the radar, she said.

Sellers also provide a discount code to reviewers, allowing them to purchase the product without paying. Because they bought it through Amazon, their post about the product will appear with a badge that says “verified purchase,” adding a sense of legitimacy to the review. DiResta also noted that many sellers requested reviewers to post photos of the product with the review.

ReviewMeta and FakeSpot still recommend reading over the reviews — with a few tips in mind.

One sign that potential buyers should look for is overly positive language that praises the company, FakeSpot CEO Saoud Khalifah said.

Khalifah also suggests looking at the dates of a product’s reviews. A large number in a few days is a red flag. Another warning signal is multiple posts from a reviewer for different products in a single day, he said.

Tommy Noonan, who operates ReviewMeta, says when you believe you have been fooled, you should message the seller and Amazon and consider returning the product.

Noonan warns that nobody can tell definitively what a fake review is, and even a listing with inauthentic reviews might still sell a product that works.

“Any seller that has any long-term goals in mind is going to try to provide a quality product and quality customer service,” he said.

WATCH:Here’s a look inside Amazon’s store that only sells its most popular products

Bozin got to work on a line of CBD-infused dog products, including a dry shampoo and puppy treats, that he calls ZenPup. But in trying to find customers for his new company, Bozin faces a unique challenge in today’s market. He doesn’t have access to Google, Facebook or Instagram (owned by Facebook), which have banned CBD and marijuana promotions. But at the end of the day the most important point is conversion,” or getting people to buy your products, he said. Marijuana is legal for recreational

David Bozin used to get cuts and scratches on his arms when it came time to bathe his golden retriever, Jax, who rebelled against the prospect of being dunked in water.

Then he learned that dogs, like humans, respond to the properties of cannabidiol, also known as CBD, a cannabis compound that helps the body relax without producing intoxicating effects. Bozin got to work on a line of CBD-infused dog products, including a dry shampoo and puppy treats, that he calls ZenPup.

But in trying to find customers for his new company, Bozin faces a unique challenge in today’s market. He doesn’t have access to Google, Facebook or Instagram (owned by Facebook), which have banned CBD and marijuana promotions. The two dominant online advertising platforms account for 57 percent of the U.S. digital ad market, according to eMarketer, and almost all emerging brands today count on Google’s search ads and Facebook’s precision targeting to efficiently get the word out.

“Facebook is not the end all, be all. Instagram is not the end all, be all,” Bozin told CNBC. “Does that mean you’re not going to see as much traffic at the get go? Sure. But at the end of the day the most important point is conversion,” or getting people to buy your products, he said.

Marijuana is legal for recreational use in 10 states and Washington, D.C., and available for medical purposes in many others parts of the country. CBD is a bit more complicated because the laws are murky.

Google has staunchly denied these accusations when they’ve come up in the past, and did so again in Pichai’s remarks. Critics have contrasted this move with how Google has worked with China on controversial plans to launch a censored search engine there. “As an American company, we cherish the values and freedoms that have allowed us to grow and serve so many users,” he wrote. Today, Google is more than a search engine. As an American company, we cherish the values and freedoms that have allowed

CEO Sundar Pichai put an emphasis on Google’s patriotism in his prepared remarks for a congressional hearing on Tuesday where he’ll likely face questions about a purported bias against conservative content on search and YouTube.

“Even as we expand into new markets we never forget our American roots,” he wrote.

Tuesday’s hearing will focus on potential political bias on Google’s platforms, as well as the company’s data filtering practices, with House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) highlighting claims that Google’s business practices “may have been affected by political bias” in a statement.

Google has staunchly denied these accusations when they’ve come up in the past, and did so again in Pichai’s remarks.

“I lead this company without political bias and work to ensure that our products continue to operate that way,” Pichai writes. “To do otherwise would go against our core principles and our business interests.”

By underscoring Google’s patriotism Pichai’s comments may also attempt to address criticism around the company’s decision earlier this year not to renew a Pentagon contract for analyzing drone videos using artificial intelligence. Critics have contrasted this move with how Google has worked with China on controversial plans to launch a censored search engine there.

After The Intercept first reported details about Google’s censored search plans, human rights groups, lawmakers, and Google’s own employees all blasted the company, arguing that by cooperating with the Chinese government, it would have violated principles of free expression and users’ privacy rights, among other issues.

The censored search app, which Google has said it is “not close” to launching, would have debatably violated a set of artificial intelligence ethics that the company posted following employee blowback to its dropped Department of Defense contract. The document stipulated that Google would work with the government and military on cybersecurity and training, but not on weapons or surveillance that violates “internationally accepted norms.”

Pichai never directly mentions either controversy, but his prepared comments dance around both.

“As an American company, we cherish the values and freedoms that have allowed us to grow and serve so many users,” he wrote. “I am proud to say we do work, and we will continue to work, with the government to keep our country safe and secure.”

Here are Pichai’s full remarks:

Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member Nadler, distinguished members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I joined Google 15 years ago and have been privileged to serve as CEO for the past three years—though my love for information and technology began long before that. It’s been 25 years since I made the US my home. Growing up in India, I have distinct memories of when my family got its first phone and our first television. Each new technology made a profound difference in our lives. Getting the phone meant that I could call ahead to the hospital to check that the blood results were in before I traveled 2 hours by bus to get them. The television, well, it only had one channel, but I couldn’t have been more thrilled by its arrival! Those experiences made me a technology optimist, and I remain one today. Not only because I believe in technology, but because I believe in people and their ability to use technology to improve their lives. I’m incredibly proud of what Google does to empower people around the world, especially here in the US. I’d like to take a moment to share a bit of background on that. 20 years ago, two students—one from Michigan and one from Maryland—came together at Stanford with a big idea: to provide users with access to the world’s information. That mission still drives everything we do, whether that’s saving you a few minutes on your morning commute or helping doctors detect disease and save lives. Today, Google is more than a search engine. We are a global company that is committed to 1 building products for everyone. That means working with many industries, from education and healthcare to manufacturing and entertainment. Even as we expand into new markets we never forget our American roots. It’s no coincidence that a company dedicated to the free flow of information was founded right here in the US. As an American company, we cherish the values and freedoms that have allowed us to grow and serve so many users. I am proud to say we do work, and we will continue to work, with the government to keep our country safe and secure. Over the years our footprint has expanded far beyond California to states such as Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Alabama. Today in the US, we’re growing faster outside of the Bay Area than within it. I’ve had the opportunity to travel across the country and see all the places that are powering our digital economy—from Clarksville, to Pittsburgh, to San Diego, where we recently launched a partnership with the USO to help veterans and military families. Along the way, I’ve met many people who depend on Google to learn new skills, find jobs, or build new businesses. Over the past year, we have supported more than 1.5 million American businesses. Over the past three, we have made direct contributions of $150 billion to the US economy, added more than 24,000 employees, and paid over $43 billion to US partners across Search, YouTube, and Android. These investments strengthen our communities and support thousands of American jobs. They also allow us to provide great services to our users to help them through the day. It’s an honor to play this role in people’s lives, and it’s one we know comes with great responsibility. Protecting the privacy and security of our users has long been an essential part of our mission. We have invested an enormous amount of work over the years to bring choice, transparency, and control to our users. These values are built into every product we make. We recognize the important role of governments, including this Committee, in setting rules for the development and use of technology. To that end, we support federal privacy legislation and proposed a legislative framework for privacy earlier this year. Users also look to us to provide accurate, trusted information. We work hard to ensure the integrity of our products, and we’ve put a number of checks and balances in place to ensure they continue to live up to our standards. I lead this company without political bias and work to ensure that our products continue to operate that way. To do otherwise would go against our core principles and our business interests. We are a company that provides platforms for diverse perspectives and opinions—and we have no shortage of them among our own employees. Some of our Googlers are former servicemen and women who have risked much in defense of our country. Some are civil libertarians who fiercely defend freedom of expression. Some are parents who worry about the role technology plays in our households. Some—like me—are immigrants to this country, profoundly grateful for the freedoms and opportunities it offers. Some of us are many of these things. Let me close by saying that leading Google has been the greatest professional honor of my life. It’s a challenging moment for our industry, but I’m privileged to be here today. I greatly appreciate you letting me share the story of Google and our work to build products worthy of the trust users place in us. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to answering your questions.

WATCH: Google’s Larry Page has backed two flying-car start-ups — here’s a look inside one of them

Google plans to kill chat app Allo by the middle of next year, the company said in a blog post, confirming a report earlier on Wednesday about the product’s imminent demise. Despite owning the world’s dominant smartphone operating system in Android, Google has never been able to create a chat experience to rival Apple’s iMessage or Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Google will focus fully on the development of Messages, its other chat app for Android phones. That initiative was the b

Google plans to kill chat app Allo by the middle of next year, the company said in a blog post, confirming a report earlier on Wednesday about the product’s imminent demise. Despite owning the world’s dominant smartphone operating system in Android, Google has never been able to create a chat experience to rival Apple’s iMessage or Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Google will focus fully on the development of Messages, its other chat app for Android phones. That initiative was the bGoogle shutting down Allo Cached Page below :Company: cnbc, Activity: cnbc, Date: 2018-12-06 Authors: jillian donfro, stephen lamKeywords: news, cnbc, companies, social, yeargoogle, google, products, earlier, android, allo, apps, users, chat, shutting, work

Google plans to kill chat app Allo by the middle of next year, the company said in a blog post, confirming a report earlier on Wednesday about the product’s imminent demise.

Despite owning the world’s dominant smartphone operating system in Android, Google has never been able to create a chat experience to rival Apple’s iMessage or Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp.

Allo, which launched two years ago to much fanfare, will only work until March 2019, at which point users will have to download any conversations they want to save. Meanwhile, Google will focus fully on the development of Messages, its other chat app for Android phones. Earlier this year, Google announced that it was working with mobile carriers on a new Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard, an upgrade to classic SMS texting, to make messaging work better across Android devices, and bring users features like read receipts and seamless group chats.

That initiative was the beginning of the end for Allo, which saw its product lead defect to Facebook earlier this year.

Google also said in its blog post that it plans to support another one of its chat apps, Hangouts, until it makes two of its enterprise apps, Hangouts Chat and Meet, available for non-paying users.

A Google employee tweeted earlier on Thursday that Meet and Chat would launch for regular consumers next year:

Google has long had a complicated, messy strategy when it comes to chat apps, and has axed a laundry list of communication products, including the original GChat, the social network Buzz, and the collaboration tool Wave. Earlier this year, it announced it was shutting down its social network Google Plus after it discovered a security bug that left private profile data exposed.

Alibaba struck a partnership with the Belgian government on Wednesday to create a trade hub that aims to help companies in the country to sell products abroad. Belgium is the first European country to sign up to the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), an initiative first proposed by Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma in 2016. The plan is to help small-and-medium-sized enterprises to sell products abroad, something they have traditionally found complicated and expensive. As part of the initiative, Al

Alibaba struck a partnership with the Belgian government on Wednesday to create a trade hub that aims to help companies in the country to sell products abroad.

Belgium is the first European country to sign up to the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), an initiative first proposed by Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma in 2016. The plan is to help small-and-medium-sized enterprises to sell products abroad, something they have traditionally found complicated and expensive.

As part of the initiative, Alibaba is opening a warehouse under its logistics arm Cainiao in Liege, Belgium. This will help businesses in Europe transport goods to China.

Tuesday’s recall marks a more than four-fold increase in the number of cases in two months; nearly 60 people have been hospitalized as a result of the current outbreak. Those included in the recall are Cedar River Farms Natural Beef, Comnor Perfect Choice, Gourmet Burger, Grass Run Farms Natural Beef, JBS Generic, Showcase and Showcase/Walmart. The recall notice didn’t provide a list of states where people were sickened. Anyone with questions about the recall can contact JBS’ consumer hotline at

The number of those sickened has increased drastically in recent weeks. Initially it was around 60 people in 16 states. Tuesday’s recall marks a more than four-fold increase in the number of cases in two months; nearly 60 people have been hospitalized as a result of the current outbreak.

The affected products were produced and packaged at an Arizona facility owned by JBS Tolleson from July 26 through Sept. 7 and shipped to retailers nationwide under many brand names. Those included in the recall are Cedar River Farms Natural Beef, Comnor Perfect Choice, Gourmet Burger, Grass Run Farms Natural Beef, JBS Generic, Showcase and Showcase/Walmart. See a list of the specific products being recalled here.

The recall notice didn’t provide a list of states where people were sickened. But, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case map updated as of Nov. 15, at least 66 cases of people infected with the outbreak have been reported in California, 13 in Texas, 42 in Arizona and several states, including Connecticut, Illinois and Massachusetts, have each reported one case.

Anyone with questions about the recall can contact JBS’ consumer hotline at 1-800-727-2333.

Salmonella can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within three days of eating the contaminated product, and the illness can last up to seven days. While most people recover, people with weakened immune systems are more likely to need to be hospitalized.

Soybean prices surged Monday on the back of a trade truce between the U.S. and China in which the Chinese agreed to buy more American agricultural products. The January futures contract on soybeans rose 1.9 percent to $912 per 5,000 bushels at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately,” the White House said in a statement. The trade war between the world’s biggest economies has taken its toll on soybean prices. Earlier

Soybean prices surged Monday on the back of a trade truce between the U.S. and China in which the Chinese agreed to buy more American agricultural products.

The January futures contract on soybeans rose 1.9 percent to $912 per 5,000 bushels at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to hold off on slapping additional tariffs on each other’s goods in January, giving both countries more time to resolve their ongoing trade war. China and the U.S. agreed the ceasefire would last 90 days starting in January.

As part of the agreement — which was reached over dinner at the G-20 summit in Argentina this weekend — “China will agree to purchase a not yet agreed upon, but very substantial, amount of agricultural, energy, industrial, and other product from the United States to reduce the trade imbalance between our two countries. China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural product from our farmers immediately,” the White House said in a statement.

The trade war between the world’s biggest economies has taken its toll on soybean prices. Earlier this year, China implemented a 25 percent tariff on soybeans coming from the U.S. The tariff has sent the soybean futures down more than 10 percent over the past six months.

Trump tweeted on Monday this agreement will be very beneficiary for U.S. farmers.

“I’m particularly happy for the American farmer of soybeans as they’ve been a sacrificial lamb in this spat but the 25% tariff on soybean imports into China still remains for now,” Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group , wrote in a note Monday.

As the company made abundantly clear at its annual re:Invent conference this week, its growth ambitions should have legacy technology vendors very much on edge. More than 50,000 attendees swarmed onto the Las Vegas Strip for five days of keynotes, breakout sessions, demos and developer training sessions. Amazon now offers 140 services, which a growing number of businesses use to run all of their core computing. Salesforce currently has a market capitalization of $107 billion after a 40 percent r

Salesforce has never been stronger or in a better position than it is now, CEO says after earnings 7:37 PM ET Tue, 27 Nov 2018 | 09:57

But that was then. AWS is now the profit engine behind its parent. As the company made abundantly clear at its annual re:Invent conference this week, its growth ambitions should have legacy technology vendors very much on edge.

More than 50,000 attendees swarmed onto the Las Vegas Strip for five days of keynotes, breakout sessions, demos and developer training sessions. Another 100,000 streamed parts of the conference online.

AWS took off in its early years by providing remote servers that any start-up or developer could use to launch a website or project. As companies became more dependent on AWS’ core computing and storage offerings, Amazon started rolling out adjacent products like databases, a content delivery network and a data warehouse service, and then began upgrading its products so they could be used in highly regulated industries like banking and health care.

Amazon now offers 140 services, which a growing number of businesses use to run all of their core computing.

It’s not stopping with cloud infrastructure, either.

AWS said this week that it has developed its own chips for artificial intelligence projects, following Google into the silicon for AI market. And Amazon said it will soon start bringing its technology into other companies’ facilities with branded hardware, stepping into the physical data center world of Cisco, Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

“A key theme that emerged as we spoke to many users and partners of AWS is that while competition is increasing, AWS’ continuous focus on newer products, services, and depth of features sets it apart,” wrote Ronald Josey, an analyst at JMP Securities, in a report on Thursday. “The announcements this week confirm this view.”

On Wednesday, Brent Thill, an analyst at Jefferies wrote in a note to clients that, “AWS Cloud momentum was evident with 3+ days still left in the conference.”

Thill, who recommends buying Amazon shares, estimates that based on potential 2022 revenue of $71 billion, AWS could be worth $350 billion on its own, a market value that today is higher than all but eight U.S. companies, including Amazon. Salesforce currently has a market capitalization of $107 billion after a 40 percent rally this year.

Investors shouldn’t be looking to a potential AWS spinoff, however. The $2.1 billion of operating profit the unit generated in the latest quarter accounted for 56 percent of Amazon’s total operating earnings, providing significant cash for CEO Jeff Bezos to pour into other lower-margin areas.

AWS CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC’s Jon Fortt this week, “I’ll never say never about anything,” but “we don’t have any plans on the horizon” to leave Amazon.

“Usually companies will spin off groups if they just for some reason don’t want them on their books or if that new unit needs access to capital that it can’t get by being part of the broader company,” Jassy said. “Amazon has been so just incredibly generous about funding AWS so aggressively over the 15 years we’ve been working on this that there’s really been no need for additional capital.”

Juul now represents more than 75 percent of the e-cigarette market, according to the Nielsen numbers. All the while, Juul maintained its argument it was a health-focused company that wanted to help adults switch. “And we’re not a big tobacco company. The same month, federal authorities showed up at Juul’s San Francisco headquarters unannounced, seeking more information on the company’s sales marketing practices. Juul said it suspended sales of fruity flavors in retail stores while continuing to

Over the summer, Juul closed a $1.25 billion round that valued the company at $16 billion after a year of explosive growth for the company. At that point, Juul’s dollar sales had skyrocketed 783 percent in the 52 weeks ended June 16, reaching $942.6 million, according to a Wells Fargo analysis of Nielsen data. The e-cigarette category as a whole grew 97 percent to $1.96 billion in the same period.

Juul now represents more than 75 percent of the e-cigarette market, according to the Nielsen numbers. But Juul faced a growing and glaring problem: Anecdotal reports suggested many of its customers were teens. Federal data later proved a surge in teen e-cigarette use was underway.

All the while, Juul maintained its argument it was a health-focused company that wanted to help adults switch. And it wasn’t associated with any tobacco companies.

“We’re the No. 1 e-cigarette in the United States,” Juul’s Chief Administrative Officer Ashley Gould told The New York Times in April. “And we’re not a big tobacco company. We’re an independent company.”

Weeks after the story, in a rare move, the FDA issued a 904(b) letter requesting a slew of company materials, including marketing documents and research on whether certain products’ design features, ingredients or specifications appeal to different age groups.

In September, the FDA went even further, declaring teen e-cigarette use an epidemic and placing the blame on Juul and four other brands, including Altria’s MarkTen. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb ordered the companies to come up with a plan to reverse these trends.

The same month, federal authorities showed up at Juul’s San Francisco headquarters unannounced, seeking more information on the company’s sales marketing practices. They seized more than a thousand pages of documents. Juul CEO Kevin Burns in a statement said the company walked regulators through “every part” of its business, including its marketing practices and age-verification tools used on its online shop.

As the FDA scrutinized Juul and debated its next steps, the outcry grew even louder. Federal data proved parents and teachers weren’t wrong. In just one year, the number of high school students who used e-cigarettes increased 78 percent, equating to 20.8 percent of high school students.

It could not be determined how much of Juul’s business is teens, but some estimate it is significant. The FDA regulation could therefore represent pressure to Juul’s business. Meantime, Juul is spending millions of dollars to combat underage use and conduct clinical studies in order to prepare for an application it will eventually need to file with the FDA.

Weeks before the FDA announced how it would try to curb youth use, Altria in October said it would remove its MarkTen pod-based products and will stop selling all flavors except for menthol or tobacco in its cig-a-like products until the FDA reviews and approves them.

Juul said it suspended sales of fruity flavors in retail stores while continuing to sell these flavors on its age-verified website. Two days later, the FDA said it would restrict where these flavors can be sold, limiting them to age-verified stores such as tobacco and vape shops.